At the Bottom near Foot of Bass Trail.
About eleven o'clock that night Prof. came to wake me up to say that a telegram had arrived stating that Najavos again had been raiding and had stolen seventy head of horses from Parowan. They were supposed to be making for El Vado and nobody in the absence of Jacob seemed to know just what to do about it. Prof. had advised them to organise a party and cut off the raiders, but they preferred to consult Jacob before doing anything. Prof. now asked me if I would be willing to ride at once to the Navajo Well where Jacob had expected to camp and notify him of the raid, no one else in town understanding where the well was, few besides ourselves and Jacob ever having travelled that way. I said I would go if I could have one companion. It was a lonely journey, and besides I might come on the Navajos before reaching the well. Charley Riggs, a splendid fellow whom I liked exceedingly, volunteered. Filling our overcoat pockets with cartridges, and each with a good Winchester across his saddle, we started about 12:30 under a fine moon and a clear sky. I knew the way perfectly, even by moonlight. We took no wrong turns, had no stops, and made excellent time toward the Navajo Well twenty miles away. On we went over the open country, skirting the Vermilion Cliffs on our left.
"Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place,"
but not at the headlong gallop by which they brought the news over a first-class road to Aix, we rode steadily as fast as the ground would permit, sometimes on a gallop, sometimes on a trot. About two o'clock, as we neared a canyon where an old trail came down from the north which the raiders might follow, we slowed up and advanced with caution. Dimly we perceived what appeared to be a number of sleeping forms under the ordinary Navajo dark-blue and white striped service blanket. Throwing our guns up ready for action we rode ahead slowly to pass by a detour if not discovered. We then saw that the objects were nothing but peculiar bushes. With a feeling of sympathy for the dear Knight of La Mancha and his worthy Sancho we spurred forward. At half-past four by the watch dawn began to spread on the sky and we rode into the camp at the Navajo Well. A shout and our hoofbeats had roused the sleepers. I delivered my message to Jacob who immediately started for El Vado with Charley Riggs, intending to add several more men to his band at the Paria settlement which he would pass through; a route he had often before followed for a like purpose. My leg was by no means well and it would have been imprudent on this account for me to further lend my services. I let Jacob have my rifle and ammunition and returned to Kanab, Jack, Andy, and Clem going on to Lee's to wait. I reached the settlement before noon, when George Adair and Tom Stewart started heavily armed to join Jacob at the earliest moment. A Pai Ute later came in with a report that a fresh party of Navajos on a trading trip had recently come across the Colorado, and from this we concluded that the alarm was false, or that the culprits were Utes who went off into the Dirty Devil country. Prof. with Adams went out towards the Paria and then to the Kaibab to do some topographic work along the north rim of the Grand Canyon and I was left without any of our party in the village, it being deemed inadvisable for me to do much riding or walking till my wound, which was now doing well, had more nearly healed. I devoted my time to plotting up notes, finishing sketches, drawings of pictographs, etc., and took my meals at Sister Louisa's. I became much interested in the story of her experiences which she told us from time to time, especially as she was one of the women who had pushed a handcart across the plains. After a few days the Major came in from a trip accompanied by several Pai Utes, among whom was Chuarooumpeak, the young chief of the Kaibab band, usually called Frank by the settlers and Chuar by his own people. The Pai Utes having no "F" in their language pronounced his English name "Brank," just as they called me "Bred." Their usual name for me was Untokarowits, derived from the dark red colour of my hair. Frank was a remarkably good man. He had been constantly devoted to the safety and welfare of the whites. A most fluent speaker in his native tongue, he would address his people with long flights of uninterrupted rhetorical skill.
Old Patnish came in occasionally. Though he did not look particularly dangerous his eye was keen and his bearing positive. Nobody would have interfered with him unless prepared for a fight to the finish. One day I rode to Johnson by the trail and learned when I got back that Patnish had arrived at Kanab by the road, so I just missed an interview. The term "old" Patnish signifies "that scoundrel" Patnish, but when the people spoke of "old" Jacob the prefix was one of respect and affection—so contrary is the meaning that can be put into three letters. Charley Riggs and George Adair came back from El Vado saying that no raiding Navajos had been seen, so our opinion of the false alarm was confirmed.
E. Showing results of recent re-survey of part of the Grand Canyon near Bright Angel Creek by the Geological Survey with ample time for detail. Compare with Map [C] at page 246, the south end of Kaibab Plateau.
On the 27th of October we had the first snow of the season, which lasted only a few hours, snow never being heavy at Kanab. The Major had planned another journey to the Uinkaret region and we started November 2d, taking with us three of the Kaibab band—Chuar, another called George, or, as they pronounced it, "Judge," and Waytoots; the Major desiring to talk to them in our camps to continue his vocabulary and the collection of other linguistic material which he had been gathering from them and others in and around Kanab at every opportunity. Our party proceeded to Pipe Spring, camping half a mile below the houses and striking the next day, Monday, November 4th, for the Wild Band Pocket. Finding no water there the natives led on toward a spring they knew of in a low line of cliffs. I was riding a broncho broken only a few weeks before, and at an unexpected moment I was suddenly deemed persona non grata, but I kept my seat and vanquished the beast after a vigorous circus, meeting thereafter with no further opposition. We saw a band of twenty wild horses spinning across the plain one behind another like a train of railway cars, a huge stallion playing locomotive. Perhaps my broncho felt the call of the band! Darkness dropped down on us before we could get to the spring. We had to make a camp that was not exactly dry, though there was no drinking water, for a drizzling rain, half snow, set in, the snow serving to hold the accompanying rain on the surface. We were wading in slush and it was a task to find a decent place for one's blankets. Jones and I bunked together. His side of the bed was a slight hollow, in consequence of which the melting slush formed under him a chilly pool that interfered seriously with his slumbers. I happened to be lying on a lump or ridge and kept fairly dry by never stirring the whole night.